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Tli0 chapter
The meeting with the Court had not gone well. Nox had hoped that the emotions of the situation would have helped his case at least a bit, but to no avail. They had ruled against his favor and given him his sentence, to be fulfilled by the following month. “It could have been a much worse statement, Nox,” Judge Hierlar had told him when the sentencing was over. “Two hundred hours of standard service is not as bad as you’re making it out to be.” Nox stood on the ground level of the courtroom. The six Judges and one High Judge presiding were arranged in a semicircle up on high behind a seven-foot tall curving desk with the High Judge in the center, directly in front of Nox. Being the defendant and the one in question, Nox was forced to stand in a grey marble circle in the dead center of the round room that stood out from the white of the rest of the room. Each Judge wore their own personal attire under the standard white robes with billowing sleeves and draping cloth that reached the floor. “If I may speak openly Master, I should not have to serve it at all,” Nox had retorted. “That is not how we have seen it so.” That was the farthest Judge sitting to the right, Judge Magister. “If you wish to go through the procedures of an appeal, Master Nox, I’m sure the Court will try its best to accommodate you,” Judge Ralisan sneered with a grin down his pointed nose. ‘You know full well that the process would take well over a month,’ Nox glared back. “Don’t be such a fool Ralisan, you know those take too long. As if it would even be necessary, you lot would just vote the same again.” Nox really loved Judge Kreugan, he decided. The aged man looked down to him with a smirk and wink as he had spoken Nox’s thoughts. Ralisan turned his snake-like glare over to Kreugan, but before he could retort the youngest and only female Judge, Norda, spoke up to Nox. “We understand and praise your wanting to be in the frontlines of the war Master Nox, but I get the feeling as if there is some deeper meaning you are not telling us about. Please, speak up now before our judgment is finalized.” The woman had the eyes of a hawk. Nothing got passed her. Nox looked at the other Judges for their reaction but besides the normal contempt from Ralisan, they all seemed to be patiently waiting. Nox took a deep breath and spoke to them all once more. “Then I shall be completely honest. At this point, it has turned into a vendetta for me. A couple months ago a powerful entity, whether it was a Stigma or a man I cannot be sure, seems to have made it his personal goal to try and destroy me. He, or it, seems decided to try and end my life specifically. It does not engage in any other target beside myself. I fear that if I were suddenly removed from the war he would either turn his attention to others and cause more casualties than necessary or somehow make it to my home and threaten my life there. That it why I wish to remain on the field where I know my target.” There was silence in the courtroom as every Judge privately mulled over this information. The first Judge to speak was the one who had not before. “That is even more reason for you not to be there,” spoke Judge Tilman, a hard-faced man with cold wisdom in his eyes. “I agree,” said Norda. “Such specification on one target can and will make you sloppy. You will make more mistakes and your personal judgment will be lacking. Such behavior is not something we can have in a Master at any time, regardless of war.” “Especially in times of war,” Ralisan added poisonously. “If anything, he should be stripped of his war ranks immediately and never be allowed to return.” “You would be wise to keep that tongue of yours from flicking so harshly, Judge Ralisan,” Heirlar warned. Once more Ralisan backed away further into his chair, yellow eyes gleaming at Nox. “Unfortunately I must agree with them. Misjudgment out there could mean just as many mistakes and deaths as if this ‘threat’ were left alone without you,” Judge Kreugan said to Nox. For the first time, High Judge Omeda spoke in his booming voice. “You would have been better to keep this information to yourself, Master Nox. I am furthering the sentence from two hundred to four hundred hours of standard service outside of warring combat. Furthermore, once you return you will have a condition placed upon you: if ever this creature should appear again to you, you are required to retreat yourself and your forces immediately. You are no longer allowed to engage this target.” Nox stared up at the High Judge, anger burning in his eyes yet not daring to let it escape his mouth. Omeda turned to the Judges now. “I am also issuing that an investigation into the creature be established. Let all units know of its existence and to keep a close eye out. Unless there is anything further, this judgment shall rule,” Omeda concluded. “I agree,” repeated all of the Judges individually. “Then it is settled.” Omeda banged his gavel once on his section of the high desk. The ruling had been passed. Nox took his standard low bow and left the Court in a flustered hurry. Leaving the Millions building, he now sat with his face in his hands on the lip of the stone fountain. This was ridiculous. Not only was he away from the war in total, but if that . . . thing decided to try and come after him, he would be leading it right to home. Why hadn’t the Judges seen that? They had no idea the powers this thing had. Most of the city’s forces were out on the battlefield now; the defenses within the city were not as strong as they needed to be. If someone were to launch an attack here now it would be devastating. It would not be hard for one enemy to slip past their lines . . . Nox realized that his hands were shaking. Not in anger, but in fear. Fear for himself, and his family. He would not be able to live with himself if he let something happen to anyone within the city much less his own wife and unborn child. This thing had to be stopped before it began, Nox decided. With or without the Judges’ or even the Order’s consent, Nox had made it his personal mission to bring this thing down. He saw it as his duty. With this new resolve in mind Nox stood up and shook his hands to get the nerves out. If he knew this creature half as well as he thought he did, he figured that it was a creature that strikes first then worries later (if at all). He had to act now before the unthinkable happened. Nox began to move his feet to head out of the city but quickly stopped himself. ‘No,’ he thought, ‘you have to be careful with this. Don’t just rush into things. That’s what’s going to get you in trouble.’ That’s what the Judges had warned, he realized. Maybe they were right and his emotions were blinding him. ‘That may be true, but that doesn’t mean I have to ignore it completely.’ He decided to turn around and head back into the Millions building. Once inside, he hung to the right side, maneuvering down the many tall corridors until he came to his destination somewhere in the far right wing. The Psiorian Library was one of the largest in the world, second only to the Pryfixiat’s Grand Public Library in Prixia. Both libraries had been founded by one of two brothers, and it was always said they squabbled over who had more knowledge than the other. The Psiorian Library in the Millions building belonged privately to the Order and is therefore only accessible to those in it. Even then the Order seemed to like to keep things hidden from the public eye as certain sections of the Library needed a particular level of clearance to look at the information stored there. As Nox walked into the enormous room for what must have been the first time, he was taken by surprise at how beautiful and extravagant it was. He knew the Order liked to keep things looking as prominent as possible but he couldn’t help but wondering just how much money went into this place. Along with the dark polished wood of the 10-foot-high bookshelves brimming with countless amounts of books and tomes, the floor was a well-polished white marble with red and blue floral patterns carved into the stone yet still even to walk on. The 30 foot high domed ceiling was adorned with numerous paintings of different historical and mythical events, all leading to a gleaming golden Seal of the Order at the very center of the dome. Protruding from each wall and random locations were decorative half columns that went up as far as to where the curve of the ceiling began, also extravagantly decorated. Every inch of the well-lit (by crystalline chandeliers, Nox noticed) seemed to be made to scream “Look how rich and powerful we are.” Being a member of the Order that could afford such a room most likely should have filled him with pride, but instead Nox just rolled his eyes and saw the missed potential to perhaps fix some of the other problems the world was having. Nox walked over to the checkout and help desk that was situated just to the left of the door. A young light-skinned Infarian girl stood behind the desk and smiled politely at him, orange eyes glowing with what Nox assumed was only a mask of job-specific happiness and warmth. “Greetings sir, what can I do for you today?” she said, rehearsed. “Greetings. I am looking for any sort of catalogues you might have on Stigmas.” “Well you’ve definitely come to the right place sir!” The girl’s cheerfulness was getting on his nerves already. “If you’ll just follow me, I’ll take you to our Stigma Directory where you’ll be able to find files on every single recorded known Stigma.” Nox forced a smile and did as he was told. The girl took him back towards the left side of the library, criss-crossing through aisle after aisle of sections of vast information. Despite her obviously fake attitude, he did have to commend the girl for working here; one must have quite an interest in such materials to try and memorize where all this is located. Once they arrived at the Stigma Directory, the girl went ahead and explained everything Nox could clearly see in plain sight. “Here it is. Each book has been arranged in alphabetical order, as have the names of the Stigma inside them, throughout these thirty-six volumes. Which of course is growing by the year. If you do not know the specific name of a Stigma, each volume has a glossary at the end of the book with keywords and descriptive tags for the appearance of the Stigma, and you may be able to trace one down that way. Unfortunately since there is only this one set, the books cannot be checked out and must remain here in the library. Our hours are six o’clock a.m. to eight o’clock p.m., so you can visit and stay as long as you want between those hours! My name’s Iriana, and I’ll be back up front if you need anything else.” When she had finally finished, Nox noticed she had a hand tenderly placed on his arm. Taking a slight step away, he gave another smile and thanked her. He noticed a twinge of disappointment to her face, but the girl kept her smile anyways and walked away. Not really knowing any exact information on the creature that was following him, Nox decided to just start at the beginning. He picked up the first black leather bound volume of the series, A1, and sat down at a nearby table with it. He removed his white cloak and flung it into an empty chair next to him and flipped open the tome to the back to the glossary of keywords the girl had mentioned. He began looking for things such as ‘humanoid,’ ‘skull,’ ‘flowing,’ ‘black,’ ‘mask’ and other things that would describe this thing. He knew that it primarily used its claws as its weapon, but also seemed to know a bit of magic. The creature also seemed to be intelligent though it had never spoken to him. With the way it moved during combat, Nox could tell its movements were not purely based on some primal instincts. This thing could plan and think, which made it even more terrifying. He had not found anything even close in the first volume. Nox got up to pick up the next volume, but as he touched it his stomach growled. He glanced to the large clock that was on the wall and noticed it was already 4:30 in the afternoon, and he had not eaten yet. He wanted to devote more time to his search, but now that he had had time to cool down from his sentencing, Nox felt like there was no immediate danger of finding out. The threat of attack was always there, but it had been since the war began. Nothing substantial had really changed. Nox left the library, not helping but see another disappointed look on the girl’s face as he left, and decided to go to the market square and get something to eat. Getting a cheese sandwich and a coffee from Grendale’s, he sat down at a singular table off to the side of the busy square. He tried to distract his mind from all the commotion and worry of the past few hours, and the past few years more or less, by simply sitting and enjoying some food while he did some people watching. Before he realized it the bell’s signaling a new hour had gone off. When he looked to the clock to confirm it was five o’clock, Nox was surprised to see it was actually seven. He noticed the sun was indeed starting to set, and the amount of people in the square had dwindled to the few people starting to get off of work or other duties. Nox could feel the slight chill of the oncoming winter begin to drift across the breeze. He got up and threw away his trash, taking one last long gulp of his drink before he started to head home for the evening. * * * Malven paced the small room impatiently, growling obscenities to himself. Talven melded from out of the shadows, his unseen cold eyes examining his brother’s attitude with disgust. “Something wrong, brother?” “It’s that damn Nox. He’s gone and done something that’s . . . I don’t know, I can just feel like something’s not right. He’s messed up my plan.” Talven began to slowly drift around his brother, letting his gaze drift. “Well, that is what you get for defying the Master.” “I have not defied him!” Malven snapped. With another growl, he went back to thoughtful pacing. “The Master is too slow with his plans. If we want to strike at Nox, then we must strike. I grow tired of simply sitting around and watching. The more we force him down with relentlessness the weaker he will get. Is that not our goal anyways?” “Well yes brother, it is. However—“ “However nothing! If that is the goal, then I will do what I must to fulfill it.” Malven stormed from the room, nudging Talven’s shoulder as he passed him. Talven turned to watch his brother go, a sigh of pity leaving his mouth as he faded back into the shadows of the room. * * * Malven sat waiting on the slope overlooking the soldiers’ camp. It was nearly sunfall, and the light was in that perfect position to not be blocked by any clouds or terrain. ‘Their vision will already be impaired,’ Malven thought. ‘I can tell most of them are tired. There must have already been a battle today.’ Malven shifted slightly to peer further forwards. From this distance he could see that their camp was established in a spiral moving outwards from a center campfire. A smirk played on his masked lips. ‘If I can flare that fire up enough, it would catch the first couple rows of tents ablaze. That would spread quickly.’ Then he noticed something else. Something that gave him an almost audible chuckle. ‘And they’ve placed their alcohol storage so near the fire? Oh, happy day to me.’ As he finalized the plan in his mind, Malven began to very slowly creep down and around the hill. Luckily for him, the direct light from the sun was also casting long shadows upon the hill, making his black-clad form blend easily into the surroundings. No one seemed to notice him so far. Once he got in range he took up a readied position near the base of the hill. Once he launched his first salvo, he would need to act quickly. Most of the initial damage would only be to draw Nox out. Once that was accomplished, it would only be to deal with him and ignore the small fry. He raised his hands near each other, keeping a space between them. Malven began to focus hard on funneling heat and magic between his palms, and soon a small bundle of black fire formed in the air. He pushed more and more into the spell, watching as the flame grew larger and larger. It was nearly the size of his chest and blazing wildly when he felt like he could contain it no more. At that point, Malven began to the attack. The black fire screamed from his hands with a forward push, and flew in a direct line towards the normal fire burning at the center of the camp. No solider saw it in time to react in any sort of way. The black fire hit and reacted with the fire pit, causing an enormous eruption of magic and heat. The almost twenty soldiers sitting so close to the fire were almost incinerated immediately, and many others surrounding it were now immobilized on the ground in pain as they burned. The five tents that surrounded the fire pit were lit immediately and were already falling down, their supports burnt. The fire began to spread at an unnatural pace and the second row of tents was already aflame. Malven watched with glee as the remaining soldiers scrambled to try and find something to put the fire out with, but by the time most of them had even gotten to their feet the alcohol tent had been lit. There was a brief, barely noticeable quiet just before the barrels and crates exploded. It was as if every person there could feel it. Something even worse was about to happen, but there was nothing they could do. Malven loved that silence. The eruption of the alcohol source spread the fire even further, over half of the camp now decimated in under ten seconds. Casters were doing what they could with water spells to put the fires out, but nothing seemed to be working. Not one of them had realized that the fire was magically imbued from Malven’s initial spell. His joy grew. As the seconds turned to minutes however, Malven enthusiasm began to ebb. Why had he not shown up yet? Where was Nox? Surely he hadn’t been near one of the explosions. No, Malven had made sure he did not see that splash of green hair near either the pit or the tent. He had made doubly sure that this was his squad as well. He had known the faces by now, and this was definitely it. ‘Then where are you?’ Malven screamed with fury in his mind. The minutes began to add up, and slowly but surely the soldiers had managed to put most of the fires out and calm the camp back down. Still no sign of Nox. Malven knew that within minutes they would be sending out patrols to look for the cause of the attack. He had to get out of there. His confrontation was not with the livestock, it was only with their shepherd. The sun had nearly set now, and most of the landscape was covered in shadow. Malven slowly trudged to the top of the hill and over, ripping open a Tear and disappearing into the overspace just as he heard the soldiers begin to rally together. * * * Nox awoke with a start. It had been four days since his sentencing, and already he had begun to fulfill his services. He was back home that day however, and as he sat there he wondered what had awoken him so suddenly. Quickly he checked beside him to make sure Mari had not awoken him for an emergency. She lay there still with sleep. Before he had time to wonder any more another hard knock came to the house’s door. Nox realized this must have been it, and swiftly got out of bed and threw on a loose robe. He pulled the door open just as his visitor was about to knock again. Nox did not recognize the young man, but noticed he was wearing an Order uniform. “Yes, can I help you?” Nox asked, clearing his throat of sleep. “I apologize for awakening you Master Nox, but I have an urgent message from the warfront,” the young man said. “The Order is sending me news of the war?” Nox laughed. He couldn’t believe this. “First they take away my rights to be involved, then they give me news of it.” His anger was short-lived however, as he began to read the note the man had handed him. It quickly informed him that there had been an attack by an unknown assailant against his squad two nights previous. There were two large explosions, the first originating from an unknown spell cast into the camp’s fire. The blaze had killed ten men, injured and burned another six out of commission, and wounded another fourteen. Altogether nearly half his force had been eliminated from battle for the foreseeable future. Nox reread the note again and again. After a few minutes he realized he was still standing there with the door open to his messenger. Clearing his throat, he thanked the young man and closed the door abruptly, numbly walking to slump down onto the couch. He kept reading the note, praying that the words would somehow change. “Is everything alright honey?” Mari trudged in from the bedroom, still drunk with sleep. Nox didn’t bother looking up. He shook his head no, but the feeling was so numb he wasn’t even sure she would register it. She had though. A concerned look quickly fell upon the woman’s face. “What is it?” she asked as she sat down close next to Nox on the couch. Once more Nox did not answer, but held the note where it was, letting his wife read it for herself. After a few seconds he heard her slight gasp and her hands immediately flew to hold him. Nox let her pull his head into her, the full emotion not really hitting him yet. Nox only had one thought looping through his mind. ‘I knew it. I knew it. I knew it.’ He didn’t know how long they sat there like that. After awhile when Mari saw Nox wasn’t reacting, she sat him back up and gave him an extremely concerned and loving look. They had one of those near-psychic conversations with each other, just know how to respond from looks. She gave a small nod and patted his shoulder as she got up. “I’ll make you some breakfast.” “No, don’t,” Nox said, finally breaking his silence. “You sit down. I’ll do it.” “Nox, please just let me—“ She saw the look in his eyes. “Please. Just let me do it.” Another conversation. She nodded. “Alright.” Mari sat back down onto the couch as Nox went into the kitchen and began making them a breakfast of eggs and toast. All of his motions were very mechanical, his body on autopilot. His brain was far too busy trying to process the information and trying to figure out how to act upon it. He had thought he would have had at least a little while to contemplate his next move, but this had happened far too quickly. Did they know already? If the creature – no, the man. Nox decided then that this was no creature or Stigma, this had to be a human – had already attacked base don the knowledge that Nox was gone, then this was just the beginning. Even if it didn’t know, it surely would have now seeing as Nox was not there to fend off the attack or help the situation in any way. Nox decided he had to appeal to the Judges. He didn’t care how long they said the process takes. He would go in and apply for the appeal meeting today, and if he didn’t hear an approval back from them within three days, he would march into the courtroom personally and demand their audience. His only small hope was that the man didn’t attack again within that time. After a few minutes he had breakfast ready and brought a plate along with a glass of orange juice back to Mari. He sat down with his own meal next to her and began eating with the same mechanical movements as he did before. Mari never took a concerned eye from him the whole time. Once they were both down Nox took their plates and washed them, then went straight to the bathroom to shower. Normally a cold shower, no matter the weather, always seemed to relax Nox and put him at ease. This shower did no such thing. He got out and changed into black loose pants and ankle boots with his traditional Natran-style double-layered folded shirt that were also both black. When he gave himself a quick glance in the mirror, the Order’s insignia that was imprinted onto the left side of his chest caught Nox’s eye. He stared at it blankly for a few seconds, then reached up to tear it off out of pure enraged impulse. He stopped himself however, knowing the consequences would not be worth this momentary anger. Nox walked back out into the living room and bent down to give Mari a quick kiss goodbye. “I’ll be back this afternoon. Take care of yourself and rest. Don’t do too much until I come back.” She gave another small nod and kiss. “Just be careful, ok?” “Always am,” he replied as he headed out of the house. * * * Malven was in no mood. It was made obvious by the explosive magic he had been casting against the walls of the training room for over two hours. Once again Talven appeared from the shadows. “I suppose this does not mean everything went swimmingly, brother?” He had to dodge a black fire bolt sent to his head. “You know it did not, brother!” Malven boomed at him. Malven began pacing and aggressively throwing and striking with magic. “I don’t understand . . . why didn’t he help them?! Has he been immobilized somehow? Could he have . . . no, it’s not possible for him to have been killed by some lowly Stigma.” “Maybe it was not a lowly one.” “If it was anything more, we would have known of it.” “Correction: the Master would have known of it. Whether he would have told us or not is his decision,” replied Talven. Malven stopped and glared at his brother. “Do you think the Master would do that to us?” Talven shrugged. “The Master may do with us as he wishes. It is not our place to question him.” “I won’t take that.” Malven began stomping away towards the Master’s private room. Talven was mixed with what to do. Stay here as he knows he should, or at least follow his brother to see what happens (but be punished as well if caught). Talven decided the possible punishment was worth seeing what irrational thing his brother was doing now. Malven reached the Master’s door and gave quick angry knocks. “Master?” “What is it?” came the Master’s low and commanding voice. “I need to speak with you.” After a few moments of nothing, a small unlocking sound rang. “Come.” Malven opened the door and stepped into the Master’s room. Before he went into his bow, he noticed something. The clear glass sphere in the middle of the room that housed a tiny black sphere was strange. The black sphere was now larger, and seemed to pulsate with energy. Their efforts were working. Feeling his Master’s gaze upon him, Malven quickly went into a kneeling bow and remained there. “What is it you wished to speak to me about, Apprentice? Something urgent it seems with how feverishly you were walking here and rattled on my door,” the Master said from his seat on the throne-like chair. “Master, you must know that you have my upmost trust and willingness to do as you command.” Malven began. “Yes?” “I know that your plans are beyond my meek comprehension, yet . . .” Malven stopped, suddenly aware of the idiotic situation he had put himself in. “Continue, young Apprentice. Hopefully you did not come this way to waste my time.” “No Master, I apologize. My question is, well . . . I-is there something you have not told us yet, Master?” Malven croaked nervously. He dared to, and slowly raised his head a bit to glance at the Master to see if there was any reaction. There was silence yet again. A small, entertained laugh came from the armored figure. “What would make you think such a thing?” “Well Master, I must confess: two days ago I went out on my own to once more provoke Nox. I understand you had not directly ordered me to, but with our overall plan of trying to wear him down, I—“ “I would suggest you quickly get to the point, Malven.” “Y-yes Master, I apologize.” Malven gulped and continued. “I attacked his usual squadron, and while that itself was a success, a very decent success if I might add, my overall mission was a failure. Nox did not reveal himself as I thought he would while his men were being attacked. I thought I could use the opportunity to continue to wear him thin, but . . .” “Then what is your question, Malven? Or did you come here simply to tell me you disobeyed orders and to gloat?” “Of course not Master. I simply came to ask if . . . if you had seen anything strange with Nox and had not informed us of the change. I do not see him as the man who would idly stand by while his men burned to death. Yet I saw no trace of him there. I was wondering if you knew anything, Master.” Malven barely finished with a dry throat. He tried to swallow, but there was nothing there. The silence that fell after he finished did not help. Very slowly, the Master breathed in and let out a long sigh. “Why do you continue to doubt my ways, my young Apprentice? I had thought you came under my tutelage because you wish to learn my ways, my techniques. And yet you continue to disobey me at every turn. Still the irrational, emotional child I found years ago,” the Master chastised, nearly spitting the word ‘child’ as he said it. “If you wish to continue your stay here under my room, eat my food and sleep in my beds, and learn my powers, I would suggest you start acting as such.” The air in the room seemed to buzz with electrical heat, and the floor beneath Malven almost felt as if it were vibrating. He could literally feel his Master’s anger. He quickly bowed even deeper. “Yes, my Master. It was not my place to question and I apologize once more. You may punish me as you see fit.” “I do not need your permission to punish you, boy.” The Master’s voice was ice. “I-I did not mean it as such, Ma—“ “Silence. I grow tired of this groveling. You have disobeyed orders once more, but you have brought something unknown to my attention. All was not lost.” “Master?” Malven questioned. “Stand, and I shall explain.” Malven did as told. “To answer your question, no, even I do not know of anything to do with the inactivity of our subject. The Stigma have not whispered to me anything new, and I know he has not perished on the battlefield nor has he fallen immobilized by spell or sickness or any other means.” “Then what do you think could have happened, Master? Surely he did not abandon his men?” “Abandoned, no. Nox is not a man to do such. However, his absence nonetheless. Perhaps the Order had called him away from the war for reasons unbeknownst to us. They could not recall the soldiers, however. How could they?” “Then that would mean he’s back at the capital, right Master?” Malven tried. The Master said: “Not necessarily. Depending on the degree of reason as to why they recalled his services, they might have simply sent him to the nearest Order outpost. Many more besides those found in the towns and cities have begun to appear during the years of the war. However, it is indeed a possibility he is at their stronghold.” The Master sat further back into his chair and began to think. “If I may Master, would this not be the perfect chance to strike at their heart?” Malven suggested tentatively. “With Nox there, our goal is no longer out of the battlefields. Most of the Order’s strong forces are spread across the world where we – I mean you, Master, -- have placed the extra forces of darkness. The capital cannot be as well fortified as before the war, and their resources must be wearing thin. Morality in the city might have leveled down to normal status and they wouldn’t be expecting an attack. I believe now would be the chance to try, Master. We could invade the capital and simply leave out Nox as the middleman.” The Master did not respond for a full five minutes. “No.” “But Master, we—“ “Leave now, Malven. You have already tried my patience once today and your impudence will not be tolerated again. Go.” The Master waved him off. Malven opened his mouth to continue, but seriously thought about that decision. He quickly shut his mouth and simply bowed once more. “Yes, Master. Thank you for your audience.” He quickly spun on his heel and left the room, nearly slamming the door behind him. The Master did not let it go unnoticed. As Malven stormed through the long hallway, Talven’s mask appeared. “That did not go as planned either, did it?” “Silence, brother.” His stare remained forwards, furious and calculating. “This is not over with yet. The Master will see. Our time to strike is now. If he is too sheepish to do so, then I will be the one to win this war.”